You hear more and more well-known top bodybuilders talking about ‘sevens’, ‘7s’, or FST-7. People like Phil Heath and Jay Cutler already use the system with great satisfaction to push their muscle size through the genetic barrier. But what is FST-7 exactly?
What is FST-7?
FST-7 is a training system developed by trainer Haney Rambod. FST stands for Fascia Stretching Training and is a training system intended to stretch the connective tissue around the muscles (the fascia or fascia in Latin). The 7 stands for the seven sets you do of the last exercise for a muscle group.
FST-7 involves factors inside and outside the gym. Let’s start with the training aspects.
Are your ‘fascia’ holding back your muscle growth?
The high concentration of collagen fibers gives the deep fascia (the connective tissue membrane around your muscles) its strength and its ability to retain shape. The number of elastic fibers (elastin) in the fascia determines how much flexibility the fascia has. In other words, some of us have fascia that is thicker and stronger than others.
The most genetically advantaged bodybuilders have thinner fascia, which makes their muscle bellies appear larger and fuller, the kind of muscles you see in superheroes in comic books.
Ronnie Coleman and Phil Heath are two good examples of bodybuilders with thin fascia. Their muscles grow more easily. Think of it as inflating a balloon versus inflating a hot water bottle. Jay Cutler and Nasser El-Sonbatty are two examples of bodybuilders with thicker fascia. They have built a lot of muscle mass, but their muscles have never had the roundness that bodybuilders with thinner fascia have.
The average bodybuilder has thicker fascia than the latter mentioned bodybuilders. Some have used means like Synthol to stretch their fascia and allow for more muscle growth, but that’s not really a healthy solution. Okay, your muscle fascia needs to be stretched, but that’s not the way to achieve it.
Stretching is not always the same
Hany Rambod is not the first to recognize the importance of stretching muscle connective tissue. John Parrillo and Dante Trudel (of DoggCrapp Training) have included aggressive stretching in their training programs.
Although, according to Rambod, they are on the right track, stretching the fascia by elongating the muscle is not the best way. FST-7 is based on stretching the muscle from the inside out by making it larger. This is achieved by getting the best possible pump during training.
Should I still train heavy, or just pump my muscles up with light weights?
One thing I want to make clear is that FST-7 is not just about pumping. That’s just one part of the system. Rambod also believes that a big muscle is a strong muscle, and that you absolutely must train with heavier weights in sets of eight to twelve repetitions.
Heavy weights build muscle thickness and density, but they don’t give you that round, full look to your muscles.
On the other hand, a fantastic pump does give you some of that roundness, but you never get extreme muscle size without training with normal sets and heavy weights. What you need is a combination of maximizing your strength and your pump in the same workout to get the best results. The following is an example of a bicep workout the FST-7 way that shows you how to combine both:
- Alternate Dumbbell Curls: 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- Machine Preacher Curls: 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- EZ Bar Curls: 7 sets of 8-12 repetitions (30-45 seconds rest between sets)
You can see a ‘7’ set as inflating a balloon. We keep the rest periods fairly short because when you’re pumping the muscle, a little blood escapes during the rest period. It’s a bit like inflating a balloon with a small hole in it; although the balloon is inflated, some air also escapes. The idea is to build the pump set by set so that the pump is maximum by the last set. When the rest periods are too short, you don’t have enough energy to perform all seven sets as well as possible.
Another question that is often asked is whether the weight should remain constant during the seven sets. It can, but it’s really not a problem to decrease the weight once or twice if necessary to complete the repetitions. It may also happen that you need to increase the weight, but that happens less frequently.
How often can I train my muscle groups in this way?
It’s best to train your muscles once a week. Due to the larger volume of muscle cells, muscle soreness persists too long to train these muscles more often. The larger than normal number of microscopic tears in the muscle caused by FST-7 training necessitates longer recovery periods than with normal training.
Smaller muscle groups like arms and calves can – and should – be trained twice a week. This gives you twice as many chances to stretch the fascia in these often difficult-to-grow muscles.
The following is an example of a training split, especially for someone who wants to give their hard-to-grow arms extra attention:
- Day 1: biceps, triceps, and calves
- Day 2: legs
- Day 3: rest
- Day 4: chest and triceps
- Day 5: back and calves
- Day 6: shoulders and biceps
- Day 7: rest
There are many variations to consider, depending on the athlete’s goals.
Which exercises are best for the ‘7’ sets?
Some exercises are better suited for doing the ‘7’ sets than others. Heavy compound basic exercises like squats and deadlifts are usually poor choices for two reasons. First, these exercises involve multiple muscle groups and are therefore not suitable for isolating an individual muscle. Additionally, these exercises require a lot of technique, which often diminishes when you try to do multiple sets in a short period.
Machine exercises are usually a good choice because the machine forces you to train in a specific range of motion, making it easier to isolate a particular muscle. Machines with a weight stack also make it easy to quickly and easily increase or decrease the weight. Here are some exercises that work well:
- Back Width: machine pullovers or cable pullovers
- Back Thickness: seated row machines with chest support
- Chest: pec deck or pec flye machine or cable crossovers
- Shoulders: machine lateral raises with arm pads
- Quads: leg extensions, leg presses
- Hamstrings: seated leg curls, lying leg curls
- Biceps: EZ bar curls, cable front double biceps curls
- Triceps: cable pushdowns with a rope, overhead cable extensions, lying French presses (skull crushers)
- Calves: standing or seated calf raises, toe presses (alternate these)
When should I do my ‘7’s?
The best time to do your ‘7’ is as the last exercise for a muscle group. If you do them first, you won’t be able to do your heavy normal sets well, and those are very important for building muscle mass.
Ending a muscle group workout with a good pump is something many bodybuilders have been doing for years, without knowing that it stretches the fascia and maximizes muscle growth. It’s tempting to do your pump sets earlier when you’re having trouble getting a pump, but then you’d better do some 21s to get the blood flowing, then do your heavy sets, before finishing with your ‘7’ set for that muscle group.
Remember that you do the ‘7s’ at the end of each muscle group workout, which means that if you train multiple muscle groups, you do multiple of these extended pump sets.
A few example FST-7 muscle group workouts:
Triceps
Close-grip Bench Press: 3-4 x 8-12
Regular or Machine Dips: 3 x 8-12
Overhead Cable Extensions: 7 x 8-12
(or, for the advanced athlete: Skull Crushers: 7 x 8-12)
Chest
Incline Dumbbell Press: 3-4 x 8-12
Incline Dumbbell Flye: 3 x 8-12
Flat Hammer or Dumbbell Press: 3 x 8-12
Pec Deck or Cable Crossover: 7 x 8-12
Quadriceps
Leg Extensions: 3-4 x 8-15
Squats: 4 x 8-12
Hack Squat or Leg Press: 3 x 8-15
Leg Extension or Leg Press: 7 x 8-15
Shoulders
Seated Dumbbell Press: 4 x 8-12
Barbell or Dumbbell Front Raise: 3 x 8-12
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 x 8-12
Lateral Raise machine: 7 x 8-12
Next time, more about the eating plan that goes with FST-7, and check here for these routines plus routines for the rest of your muscle groups.
